In vacuum processes for depositing thin films of material on substrates, such as a wafers, in a vacuum, for example in chemical vapor deposition processes, atomic layer deposition processes, and the like, the effluent gas flows from the vacuum processing chamber may be undesirable for any or a number of reasons. For example, some of such effluent gases are toxic, some are environmental pollutants, and some are problematic in the downstream equipment, such as vacuum pumps and forelines. Therefore, it is often desirable to remove such problematic effluent gases in some manner from the effluent gas streams. A variety of traps for removing various kinds of gases from effluent gas streams are available commercially, and some of them are specifically designed specifically for removal of particular elements or compounds from effluent gas streams. For example, traps for removing condensable gaseous materials from an effluent gas stream have included means for lowering temperature of the effluent gas in large volume chambers to facilitate condensation and collection of solid or liquid condensate without clogging the chambers, whereas traps for removing gaseous materials by chemical reactions or thermal dissociation may include means, for example heating devices, to heat and increase temperatures of the gaseous materials in a chamber to promote a reaction.
The foregoing examples of related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the inventions described herein. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification and of the drawings.